Alliances must be Forged, Love is Just a Possibility
by soylachicaimposible
Summary: In an attempt of keeping her position in society, Anastasia Donati and her mother seek help from the king of France knowing he will do it to spite his wife for certain reasons. Little does she know that this alliance leads to an engagement. Bash/OC
1. Chapter 1

Quick info this story involves mentioned of characters from a show called Da Vincis **demons** just wanted to let you know enjoy

I lowered the carriage window as it came to a stop. The early morning chill caused a faint low fog that drifted just above the ground, giving the grounds an eerie mystical look. You almost expected to see some sort of specter gliding along.

Whenever I'm awake I love **witnessing** all of these sights you can see, it almost makes the idea of magic seem real. Sometimes the air will be just cold enough to make you feel wide awake, the sun will cause everything to have a faint glow, and the dew on the grass and the flowers seem to sparkle.

I could hear the driver faintly begin to argue with one of the guards. Bless him for trying to make the whole argument silent because he thinks we are both still asleep. Our carriage was attempting to gain access through gates into the king's castle.

The carriages lack of movement made my mother sit up quickly and she corrected herself from her very unladylike position. She had been attempting to lounge on the uncomfortable carriage bench.

"We are there then I presume?" My mother asked, glancing out the window with me.

"Yes after many boring, long, and tiresome hours we are finally here" I assured her with a smile. I had to put on a brave face for her.

As we waited to be granted entrance I felt a sense of relief, terror, sadness, and anxiety. What we were about to do was a big gamble. Well actually it wasn't in a larger prospective. The deal had practically already been sealed. However, all I could think was that this was still some elaborate prank being pulled on us. It just all seemed unreal.

"I think I'm going to vomit" I honestly told her as I leaned back.

"Ana" my mother chuckled at my honesty.

"Nerves and lack of food" I informed her as my stomach growled on cue.

"Well if they let us in, hopefully we'll be able to eat something before we have an audience with the king"

"If we have an audience. Giancarlo seems to be having a quarrel with the guard so silent that any mime would probably wish he could perform as excellently as he" I joked and my mother laughed in response.

"That's why we haven't moved? Give me a moment"she said, giving me her mother knows best look, as her composure quickly changed from my mother to the noble Lady Donati of Florence. Grabbing her skirts in one hand she opened the door and stepped outside.

"Excuse me, may I ask why we seem to be stuck in spot where there isn't a ditch?" my mother asked the two arguing men.

"My lady, he says we were not supposed to arrive for another fortnight, and that he can't let us in since our arrival was so unexpected" Giancarlo explained.

"A fortnight?"my mother asked turning towards the guard.

"That was the time the king had estimated" the guard answered her.

"Even with his wife being who she is he has no understanding of the Italians" my mother joked with Giancarlo and then turned towards me.

"Anastasia come over here, and bring the letter with you" she asked of me. I quickly obeyed as I grabbed her little clutch, gathered up my skirts, and amazingly was able to get out of the carriage without falling over anything.

"Thank you" she graciously smiled at me as I handed her the clutch and she took out the letter. The guard began reading it the moment my mother handed it to him. I had no curiosity as to what was in it. About a month ago we lost my father to an illness. Having no heir to pass his legacy onto my mother and I strived to find a way for us to keep our home. My father was the master of coin for the city of Florence, and that's an important business that can't be left unattended to.

I knew my mother was prepared to do anything to keep me and my little sister off the streets. She tried to run my father's position to the best of her ability and was even willing to contact someone who didn't bother to take notice of our existence. My aunt, Catherine De Medici. Her reasoning behind it, was that she believed my father did not deserve the money he received after her father died. Even though she got to become a bloody queen. Why did she disagree with having her brother receive a sum of money? That's because my father was the son of her father's mistress Lucretia Donati. Now the penny drops.

Due to the fact that my mother is quite persuasive woman, she went one step further then I would've ever thought of doing. It's no secret, even in Florence, that the king despises his wife. With that in mind my mother sent a letter to my aunt's husband, King Henry of France, and described to him our situation. She even offered that the Donati family would pledge their loyalty to France, help fund France if it ever needed help, with what was left of my father's inheritance, and it would spite his wife, if he would give us any sort of help.

After about three weeks we received a response to come as quickly as we could to have an audience with the king. With that we took our best footman with us, had the staff look after my younger sister, Giuliana, and came to France with the quickest transportation we could afford.

"See what it says there?" My mother asked the guard. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as she seemed to push her attempt at being regal.

"'As soon as possible', and here we are" she paraphrased for him.

"The staff has just woken up and the king won't be awake for half an hour" the guard told her the truth.

"Well we can wait-"I told him politely but my mother held a hand up.

"If you let him know now and we walk to the front door of the castle, instead of riding up, surely that would be enough time for preparations to be made correct? Such as holding our audience with the king over breakfast?" My mother asked of him.

"Erm yes?" He answered not knowing if that was a hypothetical question or not.

"Good then" my mother gave him a nod. With that she tossed her clutch to Giancarlo and he luckily caught it with his excellent reflexes.

"Giancarlo, ride ahead of us we'll meet you there eventually. Shouldn't you be off now? Ana make sure to hold your skirts whilst we walk we mustn't get them dirty" she said so quickly as she laced her arm through mine and surprisingly the gates opened. Loyal to the French king or not, the man knew it wasn't smart to pick an argument with my mother.

I chuckled at my mother's delighted smile and we slowly made our walk to the front door.

This would've been a successful showing of how my mother always gets her way, until it started to rain. It began as a drizzle then slowly but surely it turned into a downpour.

* * *

><p>"Don't give me that look" my mother said as we shivered and stood in front of the fire in the dining hall, on top of a old carpet meant to soak up any residue.<p>

It had come as quite a shock to the manservant that answered the door when he found us absolutely soaked and out of breath from making a run for the castle. My mother had quickly straightened herself out and told him who we were. I like to think that if Giancarlo hadn't arrived before us he wouldn't have believed her. To my embarrassment though, two maid servants followed behind us with large washcloths to soak the wet footprints we left behind as he led us to the dining hall where a warm breakfast was already set.

"I'm not giving you any look" I laughed at the situation we were in, through my shivers.

"I can't control the weather, how was I supposed to know?" she made an excuse for herself.

"I believe you, I just find it funny. Hopefully the king will as well"

"Now I'm going to laugh" my mother rolled her eyes at me with sarcasm practically dripping through her voice.

"At least we are here though, and look at how magnificent this place is" I whispered to her in excitement. I had never seen any place like this before, it was almost like stepping into a fairytale.

"Try not to be to amazed otherwise people will know we aren't as aristocratic as we act"

"For now at least, I have the feeling this meeting will be quite the success. Besides you have quite the sass and composure of one that I'm sure anyone would ever doubt otherwise" I encouraged her. There was a high pitched squeak as one of the large wooden doors opened. To our left there was no doubt in our mind that the man who had entered was the king, just by the prescience he seemed to command wherever he stepped foot. My mother and I did our best to curtesy in our now damp dresses.

"It takes quite the woman to command my staff to do her bidding" the king greeted my mother with a kiss on both cheeks and did the same to me as well.

"We are in a difficult situation my lord ,so there is no time for waiting"my mother joked.

"And thank you again for inviting us. We have spoken before so you know who I am, but let me introduce my daughter, Anastasia Donati, my eldest" she introduced me. Unsure of what to do I awkwardly curtsied again and then cringed as I realized that, that was the wrong thing to do.

"Of course, good morning" he nodded towards me.

"Good morning sir"

"Would you actually mind for a moment if I had a private word with your mother?" He asked of me. I clenched my teeth at the question. Part of me wanted to just say no to him and curl up in front of the fire until I fell asleep. I smirked at the thought of me pulling that stunt in front of the king. However, the young lady in me choose otherwise as I gave the king a nod, and tried to ignore the sloshing noises my shoes made, as I left the room.

I found the hallway unattended and was about to press my ear to the door to eavesdrop, except it quickly swung open again and a maidservant came rushing out of it. Once she was gone I did another attempt at eavesdropping. The damn door was to thick. All I could hear were the muffled words of "proposal" and "better". There was no use in being anymore nosey, so I walked down the halls looking at the artistry upon them. The walls were covered with amazing tapestries of battles the castle had withstood and family portraits. There was even a Da Vinci blueprint from one of the war machines he promised to make my grandfather. Speaking of Da Vinci apparently there's a rumor that at one point, him and my grandmother were a thing.

At the end of the hallway there was a lone suit of armor with the royal seal placed just above the shoulder. I hated those, they always gave me the feeling that someone was in them watching me through the small slit in the helmet. Making sure no one would see me, I walked up to the creepy little thing and stood on the pedestal it was placed on, opened the helmet, and glanced inside. Just like I had known, there was no one in there, I could now resume walking the halls peacefully without that thought in mind.

"What are you doing?" A male voice slowly asked behind me. It sounded amused and slightly confused. With a quick glance behind I slipped off the pedestal and fell into a pair of arms that were fast at catching me. Once we both straightened ourselves out I looked into the strangers eyes and they were blue, gorgeously blue.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello! thank you guys so much for the reviews this is going to be a bit short but I just wanted to put something out there.**

"You alright there?" the man asked with a slight chuckle in his voice, making me draw attention away from his, practically perfect in every way, blue eyes. He was handsome that was for sure.

"Umm uh yes, yes I am" I assured him as I stood up straight and smoothed out my dress. Which I realized was still a bit damp.  
>"I can assure you I don't have a sweating problem, it was just raining outside so that's why my dress is damp" I blurted out and immediately blushed at my comment. I really just said that?<br>"I wasn't particularly worried about that. I put two and two together when I looked out the windows" he pointed out through the tall window down the hallway, where it was still raining hard.  
>"Just in case" I tried to make an excuse for myself. I need to stop babbling and head back. Mother and the king are most likely done talking. He nodded and then laughed for a moment.<p>

"Is sweating usually a problem for people like you in.."

"Florence, and no" I answered for him.

_Is he trying to flirt or poking fun now? _I wondered.

"Florence!" he sounded interested now.  
>"Yes, we are actually visiting the king. And you are?" I asked, trying to sound like a proper lady now.<p>

"Sebastian De Catier, the king's son, not legitimate though" he added, sounding a bit ashamed.

"Anastasia D-"

"Really Bash, this early in the morning and your already bothering some poor wench" this very good looking older woman interrupted me as she stepped into the hallway looking a bit like she had woken up, although I could tell from the sneer she had on her face that this was most likely my aunt, Catherine De Medici. I couldn't help the evil smile that slid across my face as I thought about her reaction to what my mother and her husband were planning, in the very room she was heading to.  
>"Good morning, Aunt Catherine" I said to her with a raise of my eyebrow.<p>

"I beg your pardon?" she asked, stopping in her place. My new acquaintance looked shocked.

"It seemed you hadn't received our letter's when we asked for your help, they must have gotten intercepted, so we decided to go to someone who might provide an answer and have a better chance at receiving our letter. After all family is meant to help each other" I explained to her. Catherine let out a small gasp and with as much haste as she could ran to the doors, to the dining hall and slammed them open. To my right I could hear a small applause.

"I think I may admire you Anastasia" Sebastian complimented me.

"Why might that be Sebastian?" I asked with a smirk as I placed my hands on my hips.  
>"Bash" he corrected me. I gave him a nod of understanding.<p>

"Ana then" I told him.

"Ana" he repeated.  
>"Bash" I said and we both smiled at our repetitions.<br>"It seems I was invited to witness the fury of Catherine in the dining hall, which I can guess is where your mother is, and is where you're heading so.." he said as he offered his arm to me. I gladly took it and I had to hold back my almost hyperventilating at the gesture. Most likely though I was the shade of a tomato, and seriously hoping the grey light of the windows contrasted it. Flirt of the country or not I was already charmed.  
>"Within seconds you were able to anger Catherine and silence her. Unless she absolutely hate's you beforehand, she keeps up her queen composure for almost anyone" he explained as we began to walk down the hallway.<br>"If she had seen me before this she would've hated me beforehand, but it turns out my reveal was good enough. My father was the son of her father's mistress. He died just a month ago and we need someone to uphold his previous position so we can keep our estate, its just me and my sister" I explained.

"That does explain things, Catherine does not think us bastards deserve much of anything" Bash told me.  
>"The only legacy my father had was the Medici's position as master of coin in Florence, you'd think she'd care less about that since she's queen of France"<p>

"Believe me I've been around her long enough to know that if it's not her way, it's the wrong way" he joked. Surprisingly as we approached the doors the dining hall was silent. Bash opened the door and let me in first. It was no surprise to find Catherine fuming at the table, but it was almost like the king and my mother had been expecting us.

"Good timing" my mother smiled at me as Bash and I took our seats. It was silent for a moment so my mother decided to fill the awkward silence with the one topic us ladies are always told to bring up in times like these, the weather.  
>"Is it still raining outside?" she asked incredulously. I have the feeling this is going to be a long and strange conversation.<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

Surprisingly the topic of the weather didn't go as in depth as my mother hoped so we were back to a resigned silence. Honestly though, I had preferred the weather talk. My mother seemed nervous to bring up whatever it was her and the king had spoken of, Catherine seemed to be absolutely fuming at the king, though she did a good job of being silent about it, King Henry had smug grin about him, Bash just seemed confused and went on eating his breakfast cautiously, and I was taking very small bites as the silence made me a bit self conscious of my eating, how come no one has ever told me I'm the loudest chewer in the world?

_Well might as well mention the big elephant in the room_ I decided.

"May I ask what the final decision is for my father's legacy?" I asked the King.  
>"Ana not while we are eating" My mother put in.<br>"No it's perfectly alright to let them know" King Henry gave her a nod.

_Them?_ my eyes immediately focused in on Bash and he must have had the same idea as our eyes connected. I quickly looked away.  
>"I'll tell her then my liege, if I may do so?" my mother asked of the King. He gave her a nod and suddenly all eyes were on me. Any chill I felt from the rain this morning was long gone by now as I began to blush.<p>

"Ana you know as well as I do that your father's legacy cannot be passed onto a female heir. If it was I would be proud to see you take up your father's hold, but we live in a different world. As it so happens though the king has an illegitimate son with nothing to his name that he would love to give something too for when he dies, and we have a legacy to pass on to no one. As of now the King and I have decided that you and Sebastian are betrothed and one day the two of you will run our household and Sebastian will take your father's place as master of coin in Florence" my mother explained in the calmest voice she could muster.

It was almost as if all of the air had left the room. No one dared make eye contact with another. Deciding to hold in my emotions, I placed my napkin down on the table, got up, and left the room. I had to go outside, even if it was still raining it was better than being stuck in there. Off to the back of my mind I could swear I heard my mother calling after me.

"Miss you need a coat" another distant voice warned me as I wedged the huge front doors open and squeezed outside. The rain felt nice and cool and cleared my mind for just a mere second of this madness. I then began taking the minuscule braids and tight half up do my hair was in, it was causing me a headache. I let the cold flow into my bones and enjoyed it's freezing feeling as I kept on walking and paid no attention to the slight splashes of mud forming on the end of my dress. Finally after awhile I just gave up and sat by a nearby tree in the garden.

I felt terrible for my childish behavior by leaving the scene but it was something I couldn't handle at the present moment. Being forced into this alliance, basically, made me realize that I was never going to really experience love only a significant other could give you. Sure I thought I had felt it once before but now there wasn't even a chance. Even if Bash and I got along the most it would be is us tolerating each other, like this was just a job to fulfill. I don't want that.

I shivered now as I realized the stupidity of my decision to clear my head outside in the rain.

"Need a ride m'lady" Giancarlo managed to shout through the rain as he had somehow brought our carriage off course to my little hiding spot. I felt a bit of warmth in my chest at our best manservant, coming out in this weather to make sure I was ok and even not caring about the state of the King's lovely gardens.  
>"You'll catch your death in this rain if you sit out there any longer, get in and I'll see if I can take us somewhere quiet for a bit" he offered kindly.<br>"Not the castle right?" I asked the man who had practically helped run our household since I was a child.  
>"I can take you to Scotland if you want" he smiled at me. I get up on his little seat and hugged him before climbing in. However, to my bad luck I found my mother sitting in there. Before I had the chance to hop out we were already off.<br>"You tricked me" I pointed out the obvious.

"I needed to talk to you. For one, what made you think that what you did was perfectly alright?" she asked of me. Before I could even answer she had already cut me off.  
>"I don't have much time to talk Ana, Giancarlo and I have a boat ready for us to leave at nightfall"<p>

"Your certainly giving my future husband a quick time to pack" I told her using my best snarky voice. She gave me a sad look instead of reprimanding me as she waited for me to process what she said.  
>"I'm not coming back home?" I asked her, feeling tears now.<p>

"You can't for now"

"Why?"  
>"It wasn't an illness that killed your father it was death by slow poisoning. Somebody had been lacing his drink with arsenic for the past few nights before he died" she whispered to me.<br>"What? But you're going back though, why can't I?" I asked her.

"Whoever killed your father clearly wanted access to our money, you're the key to the legacy" she explained.

"So I'm meant to stay here, and take part in an alliance I don't even agree with?" I asked of her.  
>"Ana, after you were left from your last engagement I doubt that you were going to find anyone to wed anyways on your own" she said bluntly and then regretted it as she tried to apologize. She knew so little about the truth behind what really happened.<p>

"What of Guliana?" I asked her pretending I hadn't heard her.  
>"She's spending time with my family in Naples. The King is offering me a member of his council to take the seat as Master of Coin for Florence for now. You can return once the culprit has been found and marry Sebastian once the King is dead or if you enjoy your stay here you can see where that takes you" she offered.<br>"I will tolerate my time here and once things are settled I will return to Florence and wish for the king to live a very long life"

"I heard you two talking beforehand, it sounded like you two got along well"  
>"That doesn't mean we will have a happy lifetime together. Guliana get's along great with our little footmen in training back home are you going to marry her off to him then?" I snapped.<br>"It's not like you're the first girl to ever go through this"

"Knowing since you are young is different then having it thrown at you within a second"

"Ana I don't want my farewell to you to be like this" she told me as our carriage slowly came to a halt. I straightened myself up and took a breath to calm myself down for a moment. I didn't want a harsh farewell either especially now that I knew my father's murderer was still out there. What if it was my mother that was next.

"I will try my best, and I love you" was all I could say as I hugged her and stepped back out onto the front steps of the castle. The rain had stopped and now the sun was coming out.

_How bloody symbolic_ I smirked at the idea and watched as my mother drove off. Not exactly caring about formalities at the moment I sat down on the steps and fanned my dress out for it to dry for a bit. How could it have been just a few hours ago and my life had already changed and I was ready for a nap. There was a small pain in my fingers as someone stepped on my hand.  
>"Ouch, get off you idiot" I couldn't help but squeal out and punched the person in the leg. I let out a gasp as I realized the owner to them was the last person I expected to see, Bash.<br>"Oh god I'm so sorry" he quickly apologized as he stepped off my hand, clearly my punch to his leg had, had no effect on him. For some reason I let out a giggle at his quickness and could sense that he was sitting down next to me, now.

_He must think I'm insane_ I thought as I seemed to be having major mood swings at the moment.  
>"No, I'm sorry. First of all I'm not at all decent, I just punched you in the leg, and I'm now apparently going to be your wife" I apologized through my giggles at how bonkers this was.<p>

_And it's only the morning_ I realized.  
>"You might need this more than I do" he sighed with a small smile on his face as he handed a bottle to me. I glanced at him.<br>"I thought, Italians drank wine at any moment during the day?" he joked.  
>"Not at every moment just with every meal" I corrected him and took the bottle.<br>"This is a dessert wine, that's actually my favorite. You have got quite the good taste" I informed him, handing it back to him.  
>"What brought you out here?" I asked as he took a swig.<br>"Well, it would be nice to make sure you're not a complete stranger to me. Also outside seemed a lot better than dining with Catherine, and I happened to step on your hand" he laughed. We were both a bit giddy now with the wine and I felt my nervousness around him begin to dissolve perhaps this wasn't going to be as terrible as I thought.  
>"So where do we start with this?" I asked him with a smile. He leaned back on his hands.<br>"What's your favorite color?" he asked.

**I know that's a random spot but I hope you enjoyed please review if you do. Also i'm terrible with giving character descriptions so I'm just going to give you my face cast for Ana which is Lily James who is going to be the new Cinderella. Anyways have a lovely day!**


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